The Birmingham Genealogical Society meets the fourth Saturday of each month (ex. Nov. & Dec.) at the Downtown Birmingham Public Library. Guests are always welcome!
Next meeting: Saturday, June 25th at 2 p.m.; Board Meeting at 1:30 p.m.
Meeting Room: Arrington Auditorium, 3rd Floor, Linn-Henley Building
Program Topic: Report from the Attendees of the NGS Conference in Charleston, SC
The Birmingham African American Genealogy Study Group (BAAGSG) will meet Sunday, May 15th from 3-5 p.m. in the Story Castle on the 2nd Floor, Birmingham Public Library, Main Building. Study Group members are reminded to bring your pictorial biography (brief story board of your life through pictures) with you. Come and share with us what you have.
Researching Your Family’s Roots: Family History Resources on the Internet
The Birmingham Public Library (BPL) is hosting a workshop presented by Frazine Taylor on how to use the Internet to find family history resources. Taylor is the retired Head of Reference for the Alabama Department of Archives and History with over twenty years of experience as a librarian, archivist, lecturer, and writer. She is the author of “Researching Your African American Ancestor: A Resource Guide.” One among Taylor’s many honors is working on Tom Joyner’s and Linda Johnson Rice’s segments in the PBS series, “African American Lives 2.”
This workshop focuses on the Internet as a tool or research technique that could save any researcher time, or prevent wasted efforts when searching the World Wide Web. The workshop will cover:
* Introduction to several search engines with uses for family history
* How to use search operators to fine tune search results
* How to use social media for family history
* Other aspects of online sources for family research
This workshop does not require registration. Contact the Southern History Department of BPL at 205-226-3665 or askgenlocal for more information.
Event: **“Researching Your Family’s Roots: Family History Resources on the Internet”**
Presenter: Frazine Taylor
Date: **Saturday, June 4, 2011*
Time: **9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.*
Place: Central Library, Arrington Auditorium
Cost: Free
Registration: Not required*
Due to conflicts with the AGS Seminar on April 16th and Easter the weekend of April 23rd, there will be no BGS meeting in the month of April. Our next meeting will be May 21, 2011. The May meeting will be our annual “Walking Tour”. This year’s tour will be to the Karl C. Harrison Museum of George Washington in Columbiana (Shelby County). Stay tuned for more details.
I hope to see everyone at the Alabama Genealogical Society Seminar at Samford University on April 16, 2011. For details on how to register, click here.
The Birmingham Genealogical Society meets the fourth Saturday of each month (ex. Nov. & Dec.) at the Downtown Birmingham Public Library. Guests are always welcome!
Next meeting: Saturday, March 26th at 2 p.m.; Meet & Greet at 1:30 p.m.
Meeting Room: Arrington Auditorium, 3rd Floor, Linn-Henley Building
Speaker: Dr. Bayard Tynes, President of the Birmingham History Center
Program Topic: Diseases in 19th Century Birmingham
During the 19th Century, Birmingham, Alabama had many frightful illnesses for which the frontier doctors knew neither causes nor cures. There were numerous diseases such as typhoid, dysentery, cholera, smallpox, tuberculosis, and even the “childhood diseases,” that were frequently fatal. Please join us as Dr. Bayard Tynes will discuss “Diseases in Birmingham.”
Dr. Tynes is an internist and professor of medicine and infectious diseases at UAB and he is also the President of the Birmingham History Center. His past affiliations include St. Vincent’s Hospital; University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine,; Clinical Professor of Medicine Education: Sewanee; Emory University; Assistant Surgeon, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.
NOTE: Due to the AGS Seminar on April 16th and the 4th Saturday falling on Easter weekend, BGS will NOT meet in the month of April. We hope to see everyone in May for our annual “Walking Tour”. This year’s venue is the “Karl C. Harrison Museum of George Washington” in Columbiana (Shelby County). We will have a private tour of the largest collection of George Washington and Robert E. Lee memorabilia outside of Mt. Vernon. Please make plans to join us!
Late last year the Southern History Department at the Birmingham Public Library posted a survey asking library patrons what kinds of programs they would like to attend in 2011. The survey was well responded and Southern History has (4) great programs scheduled this year. Class size is limited to 12 and is filled on a first come, first serve basis. For details on the programs and how to register, see the link below:
Beyond the Basics of Genealogy—A Workshop Series at the Birmingham Public Library
The Birmingham African-American Genealogy Study Group (BAAGSG), a special interest group of the Birmingham Genealogical Society, meets the second Sunday of each month (ex. May and November) in the Arrington Auditorium at the Downtown Birmingham Public Library. Guests are welcome!
Next meeting: Sunday, March 13, 2011, 3 p.m.
Program Topic: The Search for Information On Your Family
Special Guest: Ms. Annette Lanier
Details: Josephine Martin (205-901-6387) or contact us via e-mail
The program will discuss some sources you many use when searching for information on your family of interest:
1. Family Stories/Family Documents, etc.
2. U.S. Census’
3. State Census’
4. City/County Census’ and Directories
5. Death Records
The Birmingham Genealogical Society meets the fourth Saturday of each month (ex. Nov. & Dec.) at the Downtown Birmingham Public Library. Guests are always welcome!
Next meeting: Saturday, February 26th at 2 p.m.; Meet & Greet at 1:30 p.m.
Meeting Room: Story Castle on the 2nd Floor
Speaker: Ann Gilbert, Past President of BGS
Program Topic: The Hawes Murder Trial
On December 4, 1888, boaters found the body of a seven year-old floating in East Lake in eastern residential Birmingham. After an autopsy determined the cause of death to be murder, thousands attended a viewing at the local funeral parlor. It was not until the next day that the girl was identified as May Hawes, the daughter of Richard Hawes, a Georgia Pacific engineer and his wife Emma. At a murder inquest, witnesses revealed that Hawes often left his alcoholic wife to care for their daughters. Others said that the couple were divorced and Hawes was in Mississippi taking a new wife. After this fact was confirmed, Hawes was taken into custody. On December 8th, four days after May Hawes’ body was discovered, the scandal grew with the discovery of the bodies of Hawes’ wife, Emma and his other daughter, Irene, bound with weights and submerged in another neighborhood lake. Community outrage boiled over when a mob estimated between 1,000 and 3,000 converged on the City jail. Sheriff Joseph Smith, concerned with the safety of staff and prisoners, armed his deputies and ordered them to shoot into the crowd if necessary. Ten died in the ensuing violence including the postmaster and a deputy U.S. Marshall. The sheriff and the police chief were arrested the following day as the state militia restored order. Richard Hawes was found guilty on May 23, 1889 of murdering his family and sentenced to die by hanging.
Please join us as former BGS President, Ann Gilbert, discusses the details of this horrific crime which would set the city of Birmingham on a course that would change the city forever. (If you attended her program on the Hawes Murders a few years ago, this is part II and will focus on the actual trial transcripts that she did not have access to at the time.)
News Release
ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY
ArchiTreats: Food for Thought begins another year of informative talks on Alabama History at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Join us at noon on Thursday, January 20, 2011 as Robert B. Bradley presents The Road To War: January – April 1861. This presentation is in conjunction with the Becoming Alabama statewide initiative.
The Road to War will examine the period from January 11, 1861, when Alabama became the fourth state to secede from the Union, until April 12, 1861 when the firing on Ft. Sumter, in Charleston, South Carolina, inaugurated the Civil War. During this period the Confederate States of America was formed with Montgomery as its capital and Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th President of the United States. The most pressing issue inherited by the opposing powers was the Federal occupation of two forts: one on the Atlantic, the other on the Gulf of Mexico. The program will examine how the stubborn defiance of two US Army officers who refused to surrender their commands led to the flash point that would ignite a horrible and costly war.
Robert (Bob) Bradley is currently the Chief Curator at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. From 1974-1986, he was a historian with the National Park Service, specializing in the management, preservation, and interpretation of 18th -to mid 20th-century fortifications and military sites. Of his several assignments, his position as Chief Historian at Fort Sumter National Monument in Charleston, South Carolina was his favorite. From 1986-1988, Bradley was Historic Sites Administrator for the Alabama Historical Commission. Since coming to the Archives in 1988 he has been responsible for the preservation, documentation, and conservation of the Department’s collection of nearly a half-million artifacts. He is the author of Documenting the Civil War Period Flag Collection at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, which is available on the Department’s web-site, and he has contributed to a wide variety of Civil War publications. He is also very active in Civil War battlefield preservation.
This ArchiTreats presentation is made possible by the Friends of the Alabama Archives and a grant from the Alabama Humanities Foundation, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The public is invited to bring a sack lunch and enjoy a bit of Alabama history. Coffee and tea will be provided by the Friends of the Alabama Archives. For more information, call (334) 353-4712.
The Birmingham Genealogical Society meets the fourth Saturday of each month (ex. Nov. & Dec.) at the Downtown Birmingham Public Library. Guests are always welcome!
Next meeting: Saturday, January 22nd at 2 p.m.; Meet & Greet at 1:30 p.m.
Meeting Room: Story Castle on the 2nd Floor
Speaker: Beth Hunter, Graduate Student, UAB
Program Topic: Rammed Earth Houses: An American Vision in the New Deal
This presentation will highlight the Rammed Earth Houses in the Gardendale/Mt. Olive colony. These seven houses are unique in that they are the only such houses built by the government during the New Deal. A brief overview of the colony, colony life and the societal roles men and women played in the colony will be presented. Slides will include the making of a Rammed Earth House and current photos of the houses. Mrs. Hunter will bring a scrapbook of articles for your perusal after her presentation.
Note: This program was originally scheduled for June 2010, but had to be canceled. Please join us to hear more about Gardendale’s Rammed Earth Houses.
